Leisure interests can sometimes serve as the creative outlets for unfulfilled vocational aspirations. Deane Geiken, director of Illinois Radio Reader, combines his passions for history and outdoor activities with his zeal for teaching through medieval and American colonial re-enactments and by serving as a cubmaster for Paxton’s Cub Scout pack.
It was while taking an introductory radio broadcasting course at Parkland College that Geiken fell in love with the medium. He later went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Illinois State University. An Illinois Radio Reader volunteer while attending Parkland, Geiken returned as its director about eight years ago, which he says is the ‘best job on campus.’
Tell me about your job.
I put on the air everything from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Being the only person here, I have to be a jack-of-all-trades. I do the equipment maintenance and am a parking attendant, making sure none of our volunteers gets ticketed or towed. I even do the recordings myself when we have a hole in the volunteer schedule.
We also have occasional fund-raisers, like the Book Fair, garage sales and pledge drives. I also attend low-vision fairs and try to get the word out about the service.
On a day-to-day basis, I get the local newspapers prepared for the volunteers who come in and read. I go through them page by page and mark off those articles that are considered local, meaning they’re pertinent to the influence area of that particular newspaper or they are within our broadcast range as a whole. We primarily focus on the Champaign-Urbana area but we pull in articles from papers in Bloomington, Springfield, Tuscola and other towns for local editions of their news.
The volunteers read the articles and record themselves on audiocassettes. After a little production work, I broadcast those tapes over a subcarrier frequency of WILL radio. Those who are visually impaired in East Central Illinois who have our radio sets can pick up our service and get their local news read to them over the radio.
What does your broadcasting comprise?
Our local newspaper programming starts at 2 o’clock in the afternoon Monday through Friday. Our listeners are getting a full hour of news, so they’re probably better informed than most of their neighbors, who are getting their news in 30-second sound bites on TV.
We also read books and The New Yorker magazine. It really runs the gamut: news, entertainment and updates on developments in medicine related to visual impairment like macular degeneration.
We also simulcast the descriptive versions of PBS programs along with WILL’s broadcast of the program so that listeners can in effect "watch" their favorite PBS programs. We’re one of the few, if not the only station in Illinois that does that.
How big is your listening audience?
We have a listenership of about 350. We’re trying to increase that but our expansion is limited because we have to buy the radios, and they’re $100 apiece. Our fund raising primarily goes toward buying new radios and keeping the equipment running. Listeners apply for the radios through their eye doctors or independent living centers and then we send the radio out to them for free. They have to agree to pay for any repairs. You have to have a subcarrier converter radio to pick up our programming because we piggyback on WILL’s signal.
What type of costumes do you wear for the living history groups?
For the medieval group, I portray a long bowman, an archer, and wear padded and metal armor from head to toe. For the Revolutionary War group, I am an American soldier. I wear a wool vest, a wool coat or a green overcoat, knee breeches and period shoes. Then I also have my rifle and my bow and arrows. It’s really a lot of fun.
How did you get involved in these groups?
I’ve always been a dyed-in-the-wool, red-white-and-blue patriot and wanted to do the Revolutionary War. I find the Revolutionary War stuff really rewarding because people think they know their American history, but they really don’t. Since Sept. 11, that patriotic pride is very important, and we get a great response from the public.
What do you talk about at the demonstrations or presentations?
Primarily everyday life, which was very different then. You couldn’t just pop your mutton in the microwave! My wife demonstrates cooking at a lot of these events, and we’re eating rabbit, squirrel or deer and people are shocked at the time it takes to prepare foods. I like to demonstrate everyday activities, like putting feathers on an arrow shaft, which prompts people to come in a little closer and ask questions. From that I can branch off and talk about other things, such as how you shoot the bow or how the arrow is made.
What types of questions do you get from your audiences?
The most frequent question I get is, ‘Is that a real sword?’ I think they’re asking if it’s from the Middle Ages. It’s not but it is sharp and yes, it can cut you. I’ve actually heard someone ask, ‘Is that a real fire?’ I was stunned.
The kids, of course, love stories about battles and weapons. I’ll take in swords and axes for presentations to schoolkids, and the girls as well as the boys are asking, ‘Can you chop a head off with that?’
In October, I’m going to be involved in a medieval education program through the Champaign Public Library, and I’ll be talking about the medieval weaponry. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and still have dreams of that. The closest I can come right now is being a re-enactor showing other people a little bit about history.
Where do you get your costumes?
I make most of the clothing for myself and our two kids. My wife always says the smartest thing she ever did is teach me how to sew a straight line. Now I do all the sewing. I choose stuff that I think will be comfortable, will look good and be within my realm of ability to make. I’m always on the Internet doing research or reading history books so I can make my re-enactment easier or more authentic.